Page 127 of Unveiled
The moment Adrian stepped onto the ridge’s soil, his breath punched out of him. Connor stood, disbelieving what he was seeing.
A fissure opened several feet ahead, jagged like a wound clawed open from below. The ground pulsed under his boots.
“It’s breaking,” Adrian whispered.
Connor crouched, touching the earth. “I feel it too.” The ridge trembled. Connor swore, “Bloody hell.”
Adrian staggered back, clutching his head. “It’s too loud…the fault line…the pain. It’s…”
Connor grabbed him, arms locking around Adrian’s torso.
Adrian gasped, fingers digging into Connor’s coat. “Your voice. Your mark. Touch me. Help me split it.”
Connor didn’t hesitate. He pressed one hand to Adrian’s chest, over the mark.
Warmth surged: gold, fierce, familiar.
Some of Adrian’s pain transferred to him, or so he thought. Adrian’s body seemed to ease as Connor’s muscles tightened. He hissed but held steady, his jaw clenched.
“Good,” he grunted. “Now breathe. Focus on me.”
The fissure groaned, widening.
Adrian yelled, “It’s tearing.”
The shadow behind Adrian stretched along the ground like a living serpent.
Xiathen gasped. “His shadow. Adrian, look.”
Adrian turned and his shadow turned a moment after.
Late. Lagging. Then snapping back.
“What the hell?” Connor muttered. What kind of fuckery was this?
Xiathen whispered, voice trembling, “The shadow is responding to the land. It is sensing the fracture.”
Adrian’s pulse thundered. “Connor. I can pull it.”
Connor frowned. “Pull what?”
“The fracture.”
Xiathen shook their head violently. “No. That is too dangerous.”
But Adrian was already moving. He extended his hand toward the fissure.
His shadow followed, but not directly. More like a delayed reflection, mimicking the intent rather than the exact motion.
Adrian whispered, “Come back.”
The shadow’s stretched arm lengthened across the ground, slipping into the fissure like smoke.
The ground trembled.
Adrian doubled over but didn’t withdraw.
Connor grabbed him from behind, supporting him. “Adrian.”
